By David Crystal

New from Cambridge University Press!

By Peter Mark Roget

This book "supplies a vocabulary of English words and idiomatic phrases 'arranged … according to the ideas which they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests."

Book Information

This book addresses recent developments in the study of quantifier phrases,nominalizations, and the linking definite determiner. It reflects theintense reconsideration of the nature of quantification, and of fundamentalaspects of the syntax and semantics of quantifier phrases. Leadinginternational scholars explore novel and challenging ideas at theinterfaces between syntax and morphology, syntax and semantics, morphologyand the lexicon. They examine core issues in the field, such as kindreference, number marking, partitivity, context dependence and the waypresuppositions are built into the meanings of quantifiers. They alsoconsider how in this context definiteness and the definite determiner Dplay a central role, and the way in which D is also instrumental innominalizations. With nominalization, the lexical semantic contribution ofverbs and their arguments becomes central, and within the perspective ofthis book the question is asked whether syntactic nominalizations sharewith noun phrases the same external layer, namely the functional projectionDP. If so, what exactly is the contribution of D in this case, and how muchof the lexical correspondence between nouns and verbs is preserved?

This book presents the latest thinking on cross-paradigm andcross-linguistic approaches in three of the most vibrant and productiveresearch areas in linguistics. It paves the way towards a morecomprehensive understanding of how quantification, definiteness, andnominalizations are encoded in the grammar.